Runaways (Orphans 5)

"It's all your fault!" Crystal screamed at Raven. "I told you we shouldn't pick her up, but you insisted. Now look," she shouted, pointing at the chair where her purse had been.

Raven's lips began to tremble and her eyes teared. She turned to me and then looked at Butterfly, who was sobbing hard, her arms wrapped around her body as if she were freezing. Her eyelids fluttered and then her sobbing stopped so suddenly I thought her vocal cords had snapped.

"Butterfly?" Raven said. Butterfly fell back to the pillow, her eyes wide open, staring up at the ceiling, her mouth open too. She looked so scary. Her face was turning whiter every moment.

"Crystal! Something's happening to her," I cried and hopped off the bed.

"It's all right, Butterfly," I said, taking her hand. It felt so cold. "Crystal."

"Don't panic," she said in a controlled, deep voice. "If she hears your panic, she'll get even worse."

Raven stood behind us, waiting, her head down. Crystal turned to her.

"Get a cold washcloth," she ordered and Raven went to the bathroom. When she brought it back, Crystal put it on Butterfly's forehead. She patted her hand. "Come on, Butterfly. Don't drift off now. We need each other."

Raven bit down on her lower lip, embracing herself as if she were freezing too. We were all falling apart and fast. I moved quickly to put my arm around Butterfly and then carefully lifted her into a sitting position. Her eyes looked like they were rolling back in her head. Crystal came around the other side.

"What's wrong with her?" I asked Crystal.

"It's just another anxiety attack, a little more severe. Stay calm," she coaxed. She was really going to make one great doctor, I thought. "Quickly," she said to Raven who crawled up on the bed. She put her head down and met Crystal's and mine. We bro

ught Butterfly closer until she touched gently and then Crystal started, "We're sisters. We'll always be sisters. What happens to one, happens to all."

Raven chanted along with me and soon our voices melded into one voice, one hope, one prayer. I felt Butterfly's taut body soften. Her skin became warmer. Soon, we heard her voice along with ours.

"We'll always be sisters. When one is sad, we'll all be sad. When one is happy, we'll all be happy."

The four of us separated and Butterfly blinked her eyes rapidly, looking from one face to another.

"What's going to happen to us?" she asked as if time had stopped, as if the attack had never happened.

"You scared us to death," Raven said shakily. "I did?"

"Forget about it, Raven," Crystal advised, giving her those big eyes.

Raven, still smarting from Crystal's

accusations, was quick to listen. Butterfly looked from one of us to the other, confused.

"What will we do, Brooke?" she asked me. I had no answers and neither did Raven nor Crystal. Then Crystal went to her clothes.

"We're going to have to go back," she said. "No!" Raven cried. "I won't go back."

"I don't want to go back either," Butterfly said.

I didn't say anything. Crystal was probably right, I thought. We couldn't live off a gas credit card and soon, Gordon would get his bill and put a stop to that anyway.

"You think I want to go back? Remember what Gordon did to me," Crystal said, "but I don't see as we have much choice now. At least with that money, we had something of a budget. Now, we have nothing."

"I've got two dollars," Raven said.

"I think I have a few dollars, too," Butterfly said.

"We all have a few dollars. Pool it and what do you get, ten dollars? How far is that going to get us?" She sounded defeated.

"Crystal's right. All we have now is some clothing in pillowcases. It's ridiculous to think we could drive across the whole country with that."

"We can't go back," Raven pleaded.